Pressure to Have the "Perfect" Body Postpartum

This Mom Is Proud That Her "Perfect Body" Went to Her 2 Beautiful Kids

Like so many women, Nichole LaBreche Frank feels the pressure society puts on her to have the "perfect body," but since having two beautiful daughters, the mom has reevaluated what having one means to her. In a post to Instagram featuring her two girls snuggling with their mama's proudly displayed stretch-marked stomach, Nichole delved into the expectations society puts on women and what it took for her to realize that her body is incredible just as it is.

"As a woman I feel the pressure that society puts on me to have the perfect body," she wrote. "You know, a flat stomach, Barbie-sized chest, a booty that puts Kim Kardashian to shame . . . After each of my pregnancies, I have looked at my body and wondered where the hell my 'perfect body' went, and when did my stomach become, according to my oldest daughter, 'old looking?'" But then I look at the baby fussing in her little bouncer and her rambunctious 3-year-old sister tending to her by putting her binky in her mouth, and I realize my body went to my children."

With two pregnancies under her belt and her two girls by her side, Nichole has finally realized that none of society's expectations matter — that all of the marks on her postpartum body are important and special. "Each and every stretch mark and wrinkle is a reminder of the sleepless nights I had and will continue to have, the unconditional love I felt the moment I found out that they were nestled inside of me, the skip of my heartbeat when I first heard theirs, and the look in their eyes the moment they first met mine; that look that I was theirs and they were home.